MANIOC BEER AND MEAT: VALUE, REPRODUCTION AND COSMIC SUBSTANCE AMONG THE NAPO RUNA OF THE ECUADORIAN AMAZON

Abstract

This article is an analysis of value as explored from the perspective of a Native Amazonian group. Focusing on the Napo Runa, a Quichua‐speaking people from the Ecuadorian Amazon, it demonstrates that processes of production, gender transformation, kinship, and cosmology create value in Napo Runa society. The article provides a symbolic and social analysis of the production, consumption, and circulation of meat and manioc beer. It is argued that the value of these foods derives not just from labour, but also from cultural notions of desire and cosmology. Value in this system is a consistent pattern of thought and action modelled on a complex, multi‐stranded theory of kinship and substance transformation.

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